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“Many
were young men of good family, good education and gentlemanly
instincts. Their parents had been able to support them during their
minority, and to give them good educations, but not to maintain them
afterwards. From 1849 to 1853 there was a rush of people to the Pacific
coast, of the class described, All thought that fortunes were to be
picked up, without effort, in the gold fields on the Pacific. Some
realized more than their most sanguine expectations; but for one such
there were hundreds disappointed, many of whom now fill unknown graves;
others died wrecks of their former selves, and many, without a vicious
instinct, became criminals and outcasts.” ~U.S. Grant
“The immigrant, on arriving, found himself a stranger, in a strange
land, far from friends. Time pressed, for the little means that could
be realized from the sale of what was left of the outfit would not
support a man long at California prices. Many became discouraged.
Others would take off their coats and look for a job, no matter what it
might be. These succeeded as a rule. There were many young men who had
studied professions before they went to California, and who had never
done a day’s manual labor in their lives, who took in the situation at
once and went to work to make a start at anything they could get to
do.” ~U.S. Grant |
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